


Christmas Tree Magic

by clevernessofyou



Category: One Direction (Band)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-03 10:54:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2848349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clevernessofyou/pseuds/clevernessofyou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beep beep boop.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Tree Magic

“God, I absolutely love Christmas, Zayn. But you knew that though, didn’t you?” Niall is sitting beside Zayn in the car -- actually bouncing and jiggling his legs in excitement -- and there is no wonder that Zayn often forgets that Niall is twenty-one. It’s hilarious and bizarre, but it’s also incredibly endearing. 

Zayn laughs, casually glancing at Niall and his jittery movements, while also attempting to keep a keen eye on the icy, snow covered highway. That is a more difficult task than necessary, though; Niall is always demanding attention on any day without even trying. He might not be a kid, and he might not believe in a jolly man in a red suit, but he will always inevitably sit cookies out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.  
“Yeah, Ni, I think I’ve heard you mention your love for the holiday a few times. I love Christmas as well.” Zayn does love Christmas. How could he not? Niall always makes it very difficult to stay neutral about something that he finds exciting. Zayn loved Christmas as a kid, of course, and he still loves it now as an adult. 

When Niall is involved, however, it becomes twenty-five days of cookie baking and tinsel hanging and Andy Williams sing alongs. From Thanksgiving until the last hour of Christmas, everything is overwhelmingly filled with a Christmas spirit. Niall does things with the entirety of his being. Zayn mentioned to him in passing about possibly purchasing a fake tree to put up this year and Niall decorated him in red and green glitter glue while he was napping on the couch. Niall absolutely refused to imagine for even a minute that a fake tree would be suitable for his Christmas. 

~

“Why is there glitter everywhere? Please tell me this will come off, unlike the sharpie you decorated my arms with before my job interview last week.” “You deserve it after the blasphemy you committed when you used ‘fake tree’ and ‘Christmas’ in the same sentence.” 

Zayn had simply mumbled about the pine needles that would end up everywhere and Niall’s inclination to never pick up a broom to help clean them. “You know I’ll be the one left to clean up the Christmas disaster that your fancy real tree will leave behind in its wake, Niall,” realizing that Niall would never let him win this battle over a Christmas tree. Winning battles is a speciality that only Niall seems to contain, and Zayn doesn’t try very hard to fight him for the victory. He tends to eventually give his roommate whatever he wants, without putting up much of an argument.

~

It’s well known throughout their group of friends, and just casual acquaintances, that if Niall demands something, Zayn will do everything in his power to make it happen. This includes getting a real tree, which is why Zayn pulls his beaten up Range Rover into a parking lot to a tree farm just outside of the city that contains acres and acres of real, pine needle yielding, Christmas trees. 

Zayn opens the door of his car and immediately feels the pinpricks of the sub-arctic wind pushing through his many layers of supposedly warm clothing. Zayn instantly regrets his decision to do this on a night where the local weatherman said that everyone should, unless it was completely impossible to avoid, stay indoors. If he didn’t look to his right just at the moment to see Niall jump out of the car and bound over to the Christmas trees, Zayn would climb back in, close the door, and go back home. 

He really just wants to be back at their apartment, snuggled up in whatever comforters and blankets they can gather and lounge on the couch with a toasty cup of creamy good hot cocoa filled with baby marshmallows wrapped up in his hand and either his favorite film or Niall’s favorite film, playing through the television screen. 

Niall, however, looks back toward Zayn and insistently beckons him forward, with an endearingly evil, but small smile, in a plead to get him to join him by the trees. Zayn pushes his cocoa dreams to the back of his mind and walks toward Niall, not forgetting about his special promise to buy a brand new broom for Zayn to help swipe up the pine needles that would be littering their apartment’s floor in the weeks to come.

As he walks over, Zayn attempts to pull his beanie down lower, smashing his unruly, long locks against his head. Zayn zips his jacket up completely, just barely missing his chin with the zipper, and thinks that Niall will at least feel bad if his nose falls off due to frostbite. “Come on, Zaynie. We are surrounded by Christmas trees that are waiting to be perused.” Niall says this as he tucks his scarf into his coat and pats his many layers flat. Zayn refuses to get even the least bit excited about the prospect of finding the perfect Christmas tree for their apartment; the freezing, snowy weather will make sure that his cold, unexcited heart does not defrost. 

The weather might be cold enough to turn Zayn into a frozen ice sculpture, however, Niall is a bundle of energy that creates a bubble of warmth around his being. He skips with pure joy from tree to tree, bouncy back and forth on his feet as he tells Zayn about how each tree is the new love of his life, before immediately seeing another tree and dropping his previous love in a hot minute. Niall says that “This tree is too tall. This one is too wide. There are too many branches here and that one does not have enough. That one is definitely not Christmassy enough.” 

Any other person put in this position, including Niall’s mother, would refuse to put up with Niall’s tree picking ways and just tell him to pick a tree; however, Zayn just stands back and lets Niall do his thing, throwing himself completely into the search for Christmas’ perfect tree. 

“Ni. Hey, Niall. Did you see this one?” Zayn says as he turns to his left, and his anti-tree heart might be melting from Niall’s overflowing warmth. That, or the cold might have frozen his sense of critical thinking. Niall turns away from the tree he was considering, tilting his head back and forth, and lifts his eyes to the tree Zayn has pointed out. He raises his right brow, asking Zayn with a simple gesture, “Really?” filled with a Grinch-like attitude. “That tree is so tiny that I could carry it home in my pocket. You just want a tree that will be most likely to produce the smallest amount of pine needles.” 

Zayn continues to stand his ground. “It’s delicate and cute and delightful and perfect.” Zayn says, defensively attempting to convince Niall to choose his tree. “Here, take a picture. That way you can imagine how it’ll look with packages and ornaments all over it.” He grabs his phone and impatiently shoves it in Niall’s gloved hands. Zayn might not be one hundred percent happy with a real tree, but he will make sure to get his pick of which real tree will decimate the tidy apartment that he prides himself in. Niall tries to stifle his smile at the eagerness of Zayn, rearranges the phone, and removes one glove to tap the screen on the phone awake.

In a brief moment of frozen excitement, Zayn budged up beside the tree, inserting himself in the photo. Whether it’s due to his icicle limbs or just his natural clumsiness, Zayn steps awkwardly into a snow drift and falls against the evergreen. This crash sends clumps of snow down onto his head, a moment which is forever immortalized in the picture Niall manages to snap. With snow in his face, snow falling between his flesh and his coat, and snow clinging to the curly bits of his hair sticking out, Zayn’s efforts to prevent frostbite have been futile. A shiver shakes his entire body as he attempts to unsuccessfully brush the snow off of him. In his fight to aggressively remove the snow, Zayn almost overlooks the cackling laughter that is erupting out of Niall’s mouth.

“Oh god. Good job, Zayn. Real way to show that Christmas spirit.” he says, trying to calm his chuckles, “Just look at you.” Zayn tries to shoot him a glare, however, it lasts for a few seconds and then he is collapsing into laughter himself, ignoring the chattering of his teeth for a moment. Everything about Niall is infectious: his excitement, his laughter, his Christmas joy, and his love for pine needle bearing Christmas trees. 

Niall walks up to Zayn, hands him his phone, and helps to rid his clothing and hair of snow. When Niall steps away again, he’s still chuckling to himself when he says, “Zayn, my pal, I think you have just found us the perfect Christmas tree.” Even though the tree is a bit rough around the edges, Zayn and Niall know that, with a little love and care, it can blossom into the most Christmassy and spirited tree they have ever had. After all, they have learned through their friendship how to create something remarkable out of nothing.


End file.
